[NTLUG:Discuss] Laptop choices

[Leroy Tennison]

I worked with a bunch of PC techs. until recently and asked the more 
general "what laptop should I buy" question.  The information they 
provided was enlightening to say the least and I thought I'd pass it along.

 1. Every brand has their bad units and the only way to tell is by
    experience.  This isn't good news, about the only defense is to pick
    a model which has a little history and ask around. Although your
    question wasn't directly about quality, that's basically what you're
    already doing.
 2. Get a business model.  For example, Dell has it's Inspiron (home)
    and Latitude (business) lines.  HP has it's Pavilion (home) and
    Elitebook (business) lines.  I suspect the same is true of the other
    manufacturers (if someone knows which lines are which for other
    manufacturers I'd like to know).  The home models tend to have one
    year warranties, the business units three years.  Finding the
    business units will likely be a little more of a challenge -
    Walmart, etc. probably doesn't carry them.
 3. Get one with an Intel CPU.  The rationale is that AMD tends to be a
    little cheaper which makes it the choice for "value" units.  The
    problem with those units isn't the CPU, it's the other components
    chosen to go with it which are also cheaper.

Concerning one for Linux, in addition to getting group input, I would 
suggest you also do a web search for Linux Laptop.  I just did and saw a 
couple of hits on the first page which looked interesting.
> I need to get a new laptop. Any suggestions on current models that are 
> fully compatible with Ubuntu and derivatives?
>
> I'd like to get one with Win 7 and dual boot since I still have a 
> couple of M$ only applications. I will be doing some non-linear video 
> editing so it needs to be powerful enough for that. But I am also on a 
> tight budget.
>
> Any suggestions are appreciated.
> Bobby
>
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